JOHN HIATT and the Jerry Douglas Band look the people in the mouth with their album

The world is full of outcasts and people whose little lives have nothing to do with the media success stories we are encouraged to emulate on a daily basis. One of the last songwriters to persistently take on the stories of these unremarkable everyday heroes that we find not only in the provinces but also in the big cities is John Hiatt. The Heartland rock bard has been showing his heart for the forgotten majority on the fringes for decades, but especially after the trials of the Lockdown, his new album "Leftover Feelings" takes on a whole new weight.

It sounds like the checksum of empathy and wisdom. "I just like telling stories. Stories about people, places and things. I couldn't write an abstract song. It always has to be about something that people can relate to. When I write a song, I take the opportunity to communicate about the things that are on my mind." ...

After nine years of musical radio silence THE WALLFLOWERS return

It's a strange feeling when the phone rings and a sonorous, self-confident voice answers with the words "Hello, this is Jakob Dylan". The internet teaches that he doesn't like questions about his famous father at all, and of course he has enough to say about the new - convincing - album "Exit Wounds" by his band The Wallflowers. But in the end he is ready to say a few sentences about his father.

eclipsed: Why did you take almost a decade off while not releasing a Wallflowers album or a solo album?

Jakob Dylan: Actually, the break wasn't planned to be that long, but the pandemic got in the way, the new album has been on hold for over a year. Before that, though, I had to get out of the grind and try other things. Not that I didn't feel like making music anymore, but it's important to take a step back and see things from a different perspective. So one of the things I did was make this film about the Laurel Canyon scene ..

TIM HUSUNG describes the making of his debut album as a true odyssey

In his main profession, Tim Husung from Hagen is a drummer and as such has been on the road a lot with the band John Diva And The Rockets Of Love, also in their home country; touring in California and Arizona, among other places, has left its mark on the visual language of his debut. "The motherland of rock'n'roll for me isn't just the USA though, it's England too. If you can pick up the vibe in the US though, it's certainly formative."

Just like his musical preferences, where he names The Cult first, followed by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gov't Mule, Blackberry Smoke, Rival Sons. What he particularly likes about the latter is "how they bring that old school character into the modern era". Something he also tries to do. So there is no Hammond organ replacement, but the original to hear ...

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND - 50 years between heaven and earth

Although the group around Moog wizard Manfred Mann was not able to sail permanently on the big international wave of success like Pink Floyd or Genesis, they have found a loyal audience with their perfect balancing act between spherical progressive rock and good mood classic rock, especially in Germany over five decades. In view of the anniversary, we take a look back at the Earth Band's eventful history together with bandleader Mann, long-term guitarist Mick Rogers and former vocal figurehead Chris Thompson. We also spoke with current vocalist Robert Hart. In addition, we put their most important albums and video documents in perspective.

BILLY F. GIBBONS - Women, Cars and Politically Incorrect Humor

Actually, there should be a big birthday bash with a new album and world tour for ZZ Top's 50th anniversary. But Corona threw a spanner in the works of Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill and their drummer Frank Beard. Guitarist Gibbons used the unexpected free time to screw around on cars and guitars, to perform wedding ceremonies and to record his third solo album. eclipsed caught him in the US state Nevada.

VOLA - The future of prog?

Asger Mygind's personal playlist ranges from Modeselektor to Meshuggah - and thus sums up the bandwidth of his band VOLA well. On their third album "Witness", the Danes push stylistic boundaries at will, elevate their sound into new spheres and solidify their status as young hopefuls of progressive metal.

Since the release of their 2018 album "Applause Of A Distant Crowd" at the latest, Vola have become an indispensable part of the new generation of prog. Not only do the Danes skilfully develop genre traditions further, they also actively get up close and personal with modern varieties of pop, electronic music and recently even hip-hop, which are rather frowned upon in the scene. On tour with Dream Theater, they recently proved impressively that their resulting mixture even appeals to the long-established.

BLACKBERRY SMOKE - "Playing live is our purpose"

When Blackberry Smoke toured Germany in 2019 together with the mega-successful Lynyrd Skynyrd, it was a dream combination for the Southern rock community and at the same time a summit meeting of two bands from two hotspots of the genre - after all, the Skynyrds' home is the Floridian Jacksonville, while Blackberry Smoke were founded in Georgia's capital Atlanta in 2000. Eclipsed spoke to frontman Charlie Starr via Zoom about Southern rock in general, Blackberry Smoke's new album "You Hear Georgia" in particular, and twenty years of the band's history.